Key terms urbanism and Planning Exam
Urban Concepts
● Globalization: Increasing interconnectedness, de-globalization trends, economic
reorganization on a global scale.
● Neoliberalism: Market-driven governance, privatization, deregulation, and minimizing
state intervention. Focus on free-market competition and its implications for urban
governance.
Urban Governance and Housing
● Shift from Government to Governance: From top-down intervention to
collaborative decision-making among diverse actors. Emergence of neoliberalism
and public-private partnerships.
● Housing Challenges: Housing crisis, affordability issues, and the need for new
housing. The role of planning in addressing market failures and facilitating
housing provision.
● Neoliberal Urbanism: Cities as economic engines, large-scale redevelopment,
mega-events, and the privatization of services.
● Planning and Property Market: Role of planners in shaping, regulating, and
stimulating housing markets. Increasing complexity in governance and market
dynamics.
● Informal Housing: Housing without permits, especially in the Global South, and
its role in urbanization. Informality as an expression of inequality.
● Forced Evictions and Slum Clearance: Governments' actions to clear informal
settlements, leading to displacement.
● Affordable Housing: Challenges in mass production and displacement from city
centers due to land prices.
Sustainable Development Dimensions
● Environmental Sustainability: Protecting ecosystems, reducing emissions, improving
health, and adapting to environmental changes to ensure the planet's well-being.
● Economic Sustainability: Enhancing individual well-being through reliable
infrastructure, economic benefits, productivity, and efficient resource use.
● Social Sustainability: Fostering collective well-being by building social capital,
promoting equity, offering opportunities, and ensuring inclusiveness in communities.
Principles of Environmental Sustainability
● Ecological Protection: Preservation and restoration of ecosystems and natural
resources.
● Environmental Diversity: Maintaining and enhancing various forms of nature.
● Carrying Capacity: Operating within the limits of the environment so activities can be
sustained indefinitely.
● Precautionary Principle: Acting cautiously to prevent environmental harm when
impacts are uncertain.
, ● Systems Perspective: Recognizing that ecological, social, and economic systems are
interconnected and form a complex whole.
● Ecosystem Stability and Resilience: The ability of ecosystems to adapt to
disturbances and absorb shocks without changing fundamentally.
Ecological Perspective
● Balance in the Ecosystem: Ensuring human activities are in harmony with other life
forms and the environment over an indefinite period.
● Renewable Resources: Using resources at a rate that does not exceed their natural
regeneration.
● Non-Renewable Resources: Limiting use to allow for the development of renewable
substitutes.
● Pollution Emissions: Keeping emissions within the environment's capacity to adapt.
Urban Metabolism
● Definition: The flow of materials and energy within cities, similar to a living organism's
metabolism.
● Input-Output Flows: The resources entering and waste leaving urban areas.
Economic Sustainability
● Anthropocentric View: Human-centered approach focusing on individual benefits and
freedom of choice.
● Weak Sustainability: Belief that technological innovation can compensate for resource
depletion under continued economic growth.
● Ecosystem Services:
○ Provisioning Services: Supply of food, materials, and energy.
○ Regulating Services: Climate regulation, water purification, and flood control.
○ Cultural Services: Aesthetic enjoyment, recreation, and spiritual fulfillment.
Capability Approach (Amartya Sen)
● Definition: Development measured by the freedom and opportunities people have to
improve their lives.
● Focus: Providing a variety of options for people to enhance their capabilities and
achieve well-being.
Tragedy of the Commons
● Concept: Overuse and depletion of shared resources due to individual self-interest.
● Solution: Implementing common pool resource management to sustainably manage
shared resources.
Social Sustainability
● Collective Well-being: Emphasizing community-oriented goals like social equity,
inclusiveness, and cohesion.
● Quality of Life: Enhancing livability through satisfaction with the home and local
environment.
Urban Concepts
● Globalization: Increasing interconnectedness, de-globalization trends, economic
reorganization on a global scale.
● Neoliberalism: Market-driven governance, privatization, deregulation, and minimizing
state intervention. Focus on free-market competition and its implications for urban
governance.
Urban Governance and Housing
● Shift from Government to Governance: From top-down intervention to
collaborative decision-making among diverse actors. Emergence of neoliberalism
and public-private partnerships.
● Housing Challenges: Housing crisis, affordability issues, and the need for new
housing. The role of planning in addressing market failures and facilitating
housing provision.
● Neoliberal Urbanism: Cities as economic engines, large-scale redevelopment,
mega-events, and the privatization of services.
● Planning and Property Market: Role of planners in shaping, regulating, and
stimulating housing markets. Increasing complexity in governance and market
dynamics.
● Informal Housing: Housing without permits, especially in the Global South, and
its role in urbanization. Informality as an expression of inequality.
● Forced Evictions and Slum Clearance: Governments' actions to clear informal
settlements, leading to displacement.
● Affordable Housing: Challenges in mass production and displacement from city
centers due to land prices.
Sustainable Development Dimensions
● Environmental Sustainability: Protecting ecosystems, reducing emissions, improving
health, and adapting to environmental changes to ensure the planet's well-being.
● Economic Sustainability: Enhancing individual well-being through reliable
infrastructure, economic benefits, productivity, and efficient resource use.
● Social Sustainability: Fostering collective well-being by building social capital,
promoting equity, offering opportunities, and ensuring inclusiveness in communities.
Principles of Environmental Sustainability
● Ecological Protection: Preservation and restoration of ecosystems and natural
resources.
● Environmental Diversity: Maintaining and enhancing various forms of nature.
● Carrying Capacity: Operating within the limits of the environment so activities can be
sustained indefinitely.
● Precautionary Principle: Acting cautiously to prevent environmental harm when
impacts are uncertain.
, ● Systems Perspective: Recognizing that ecological, social, and economic systems are
interconnected and form a complex whole.
● Ecosystem Stability and Resilience: The ability of ecosystems to adapt to
disturbances and absorb shocks without changing fundamentally.
Ecological Perspective
● Balance in the Ecosystem: Ensuring human activities are in harmony with other life
forms and the environment over an indefinite period.
● Renewable Resources: Using resources at a rate that does not exceed their natural
regeneration.
● Non-Renewable Resources: Limiting use to allow for the development of renewable
substitutes.
● Pollution Emissions: Keeping emissions within the environment's capacity to adapt.
Urban Metabolism
● Definition: The flow of materials and energy within cities, similar to a living organism's
metabolism.
● Input-Output Flows: The resources entering and waste leaving urban areas.
Economic Sustainability
● Anthropocentric View: Human-centered approach focusing on individual benefits and
freedom of choice.
● Weak Sustainability: Belief that technological innovation can compensate for resource
depletion under continued economic growth.
● Ecosystem Services:
○ Provisioning Services: Supply of food, materials, and energy.
○ Regulating Services: Climate regulation, water purification, and flood control.
○ Cultural Services: Aesthetic enjoyment, recreation, and spiritual fulfillment.
Capability Approach (Amartya Sen)
● Definition: Development measured by the freedom and opportunities people have to
improve their lives.
● Focus: Providing a variety of options for people to enhance their capabilities and
achieve well-being.
Tragedy of the Commons
● Concept: Overuse and depletion of shared resources due to individual self-interest.
● Solution: Implementing common pool resource management to sustainably manage
shared resources.
Social Sustainability
● Collective Well-being: Emphasizing community-oriented goals like social equity,
inclusiveness, and cohesion.
● Quality of Life: Enhancing livability through satisfaction with the home and local
environment.
